Democrat Who Dropped Out Still Beat Republican in Deep Trump Country

Democrats apparently didn’t even need to run to win over Trump country this midterm election.

Iowans were so pissed off with Republicans on Tuesday that they elected Eric Armstrong to the state House. The catch: Armstrong, a retired railroad executive, pulled out of the race in September due to health issues.

Nonetheless, he bested his Republican opponent, Keith Jones, by roughly nine percentage points, or 865 votes, according to results tabulated by the Associated Press.

On September 7, Armstrong posted to his Facebook account that he would step away from the race effective immediately.

“Running a successful campaign requires immense physical and mental energy. Recently, I have been facing some personal health issues that require my full attention and immediate care,” he wrote at the time.

“Because I must prioritize my health and recovery at this time, I am stepping down from my campaign, effective immediately,” he continued. “This was a deeply difficult choice. However, I know it is the right one.”

Armstrong was still elected to fill a state House position vacated by Josh Turek, who managed to flip Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday.

It’s an enormous change of pace from how Iowa’s 20th House of Representatives district was feeling even two years ago, when it swung in favor of Donald Trump by a margin of 20 percentage points. Beyond that, Iowa’s politics have been about as Trumpian as it gets: The state voted to send the MAGA leader to the White House all three times he was on the ballot.

Speaking with The New York Times via phone Wednesday, Armstrong said he would “do my best to represent” Iowa’s 20th district.

“But I still have health issues, that’s what I’m struggling with,” he noted.

Even if he has to miss votes, local political experts argue it won’t be a huge cause for concern.

“Iowa has a part-time legislature that meets from January to May or so,” University of Iowa professor and expert on Hawkeye State politics Timothy Hagle told Newsweek. “If he had to miss some time it probably won’t be a major concern given that Turek missed a lot of votes this year,” given the priorities of Turek’s Senate campaign.

Amid reports that he may be on his way out, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has decided to expand the National Guard’s presence in Washington, D.C.

Politico, citing an October 29 memo, reports that Hegseth has authorized the National Guard to begin using Humvees, light medium tactical vehicles, several dozen marked police cars, and boats in the district—though there isn’t a clear reason why.

Soldiers with the National Guard still aren’t allowed to pursue suspects or make arrests, and the vehicles Hegseth is allowing were used in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The memo states that the boats will be conducting “perimeter security” for police targeting suspected gang leaders and drug traffickers in Anacostia, the southeastern corner of the city, but won’t be surveilling U.S. citizens. Federal officers “must always be on board” the boats “to help arrest a criminal suspect,” according to the memo.

On Wednesday, D.C. police charged a man with “threats in a menacing manner” and assault on a police officer for allegedly pretending to shoot at National Guard troops by making a “finger gun” gesture. Those kinds of headlines are what make the National Guard’s presence in the city unpopular, and beefing up their vehicles will only make them further seem like an occupying army to D.C. residents.

While the memo was drafted before the finger-gun charges and Republicans’ historic defeat in the midterm elections, this kind of move would seem to be a direct challenge to the new Democratic-controlled Congress, as well as Washington’s Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George, who is on record as opposing the deployment of the National Guard in the district. This move could hasten an impeachment vote against Hegseth and set up a showdown between George, backed by Congress, and President Trump.

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom commuted the sentences of 548 death row inmates in one of his last acts in office. This is the largest death sentence commutation in American history.

“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” he wrote in an open letter Thursday. “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”

Those on death row will instead serve life without parole. The California Supreme Court must now review the commutations of death row inmates with multiple felony convictions,, a process that has no clear timeline.

California has more inmates waiting to be executed on death row than any other state, representing one-quarter of death row inmates in the entire country. Newsom’s office noted that of the 548 people on death row, 220 have waited 15 years or more for legal representation to fight their cases. The last person to be put to death in California was 76-year-old Clarence Ray Allen in 2006.

This move also comes as Newsom decides whether or not to run for president in two years.

“This will always weigh heavily on me. As Governor, I alone bear the responsibility for this decision and its impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,” Newsom concluded. “For this reason, I am compelled to follow my conscience and, as authorized by our Constitution, take this action for the welfare of the state of California.”

This story has been updated.

Calls for Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer to step down from their leadership positions are growing as the dust from Tuesday’s midterm election settles. The calls—coming from inside and outside of Congress—cite a lack of vision, an unwillingness to go after Trump, the continued acceptance of corporate PAC money, and an extreme deference to the Israeli government. 

There are lots of questions circulating about Schumer’s future in Senate leadership. Minnesota Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan declared on election night that it’s “time for new leadership” in the Senate. Senators-elect James Talarico and Abdul El-Sayed have also expressed doubt in Schumer’s future as leader, with El-Sayed even introducing Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen as the “next Senate majority leader” earlier this summer. Van Hollen himself said on Wednesday that “no one should be committing to anybody as the next Democratic leader” without having a conversation around a bold agenda. “It’s not a time for incrementalism. It’s a time to move forward a very bold kitchen table agenda.”

Jeffries hasn’t escaped without criticism, either. A Change.org petition to replace Jeffries and have an open election for House speaker has reached over 500,000 signatures. House Democrats start with a party vote to select a speaker before that candidate is confirmed by the larger House in January. 

“Hakeem Jeffries currently serves as House Democratic Leader and has previously been nominated by House Democrats for Speaker. If his name is put forward again, House members will have a choice to make. Hakeem Jeffries is simply not the right choice,” the petition, which was shared by actor Mark Ruffalo, reads. “We believe the Speaker should represent the Democratic voters, not just the Democratic establishment.” 

Nicole Whitted, the petition’s creator and a Change.org ambassador who receives compensation for the petition, explained her opposition to Newsweek.* “After historic wins on Tuesday, I believe the Democratic Party and our country as a whole is at a crossroads. My opposition to Hakeem Jeffries is about more than any single policy disagreement,” she said. “Hakeem Jeffries has longstanding political and financial ties to corporate interests and influential pro-Israel lobbying organizations. He also held a private meeting with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and outside advisor, who himself is being investigated by the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. These relationships and decisions raise serious questions for me and many of those who have signed this petition about transparency, political influence, and whose interests Democratic leadership is ultimately serving.”

Opposition to Jeffries’s potential speakership grew even louder after his strangely conciliatory comments on Wednesday regarding whether the Democratic Party will retaliate against the Trump administration’s corruption and violence now that it has a staunch majority. 

“The American people don’t want us to get even, they want us to get things done on their behalf,” Jeffries told MS NOW, specifically ruling out impeachment as a top priority. “We ran on affordability, we won on affordability, and now it’s our job to govern on affordability.”

That notion was met with quite a bit of backlash. 

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you can focus on affordability issues—and— hold criminals accountable,” Campaign for New York Health executive director Melanie D’Arrigo wrote. “When you don’t hold criminals accountable, you’re giving them a strategy to be more successful next time.”

“This isn’t even about revenge or politics, it’s about the reality that if there aren’t consequences & prison time for quite a few people, all the worst parts of the last decade will keep happening,” writer Kylie Chueng added. “He fundamentally misunderstands the moment & can’t be speaker.” 

“Let’s be clear here: conducting meaningful oversight to expose waste, fraud, abuse and corruption isn’t about getting even, it’s about being watchful stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Texas Democratic Party adviser Kurt Bardella wrote. “It’s the job.”

“They fired all the black and gay people, cut cancer research, cut healthcare for millions, cut food for starving children, killed hundreds of schoolgirls, separated families, put kids in camps, and shot people in the street,” a large liberal account wrote. “We better get fucking even.”

Newly elected democratic socialist Representative Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania has already declined to endorse Jeffries’s speakership, saying that he needed to address issues like Medicare for All first—which Jeffries currently opposes.

Jeffries was also criticized for his deep ties to Israel. Jeffries is one of the strongest Democratic supporters of Israel, and one of AIPAC’s top recipients, as the majority of Democratic voters oppose more aid to Israel in the wake of its genocide of Palestinians. A clip of Jeffries declaring, “Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever!” at a 2014 rally—a paraphrasing of infamous racist former Alabama Governor George Wallace’s 1963 demands for segregation—has also begun to recirculate. 

To make matters worse, after the election, AIPAC praised the Democrats who would remain by Israel’s side, mentioning Schumer and Jeffries by name and promising to keep funding candidates of either party as long as they continued to support Israel.

“AIPAC congratulates the hundreds of pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans who won their elections last night,” the controversial lobbying group wrote on Wednesday. “We congratulate Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the resounding victories for their caucuses.… Our community will increase its support for Democrats and Republicans who recognize that a strong partnership with Israel helps keep both countries secure, advances peace and stability, promotes democratic values, and grows our economy through trade and innovation.” 

“Bye,” newly elected California Representative and Democratic Socialists of America member Angela Gonzales-Torres replied.  

* This story has been updated to reflect the compensation of the Change.Org petition creator.

Across the board, Fox News hosts are struggling to cope after the midterm elections dealt a catastrophic blow to the Republican agenda they’ve spent months hyping up.

Speaking on The Five Wednesday, host Jesse Watters spiraled out about the many groups of voters that had evidently defected from supporting Republican candidates.

“The coalition has totally collapsed. You lost whites. Whites!” Watters cried. “You can’t do that if you’re a Republican. Men! Hispanics, big-time! And so it’s gonna take a while to put the coalition back together because it’s in the heartland.”

Co-host Greg Gutfeld tried to spin the disaster for Republicans, suggesting that it would be “fun, fun, fun” to watch Democrats struggle to fix all of the problems Republicans had created.

“I think you’re missing the bigger picture, is that the American people, young, men, white, Americans, said screw you Donald Trump, said screw you to the Republican Party in places in the deep South, in the Midwest. And that’s not just something that happens all of the time, that’s a problem that the Republicans have,” Watters said.

Speaking on his own show later that night, Fox News’s Sean Hannity ranted bitterly about Hasan Piker, the left-wing political commentator.

“Now before, nobody in the Democratic Party stood up to Hasan Piker, and that wing of the party, but the inclusion party, they did kick out Haley Stevens. She’s out of the party. That’s what we’re dealing with,” Hannity said.

Hannity blamed Piker for Democratic lawmakers who urged Republicans to “LAWYER UP” ahead of a flood of congressional investigations. “Now, perhaps they were taking inspiration from the Democratic Party’s spiritual leader Hasan Piker who wrote, quote, ‘We’re gonna put your ass in jail, everyone get more woke right now.’”

He then urged Republicans to “stay away from finger pointing or blame.” I guess for Hannity, that only applies when the problems are caused by Trump.